Richard performs his poem “To the Artists Invisible” at the 2013 Fragrance Foundation Awards. Hosted by SNL alum Dana Carvey, with honored guests including Taylor Swift, André Leon Talley, Jessica Szohr, Dita Von Teese, and others.

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Poet Richard Blanco visits VOA. Richard Blanco is a teacher and poet. He became the fifth poet, the first Hispanic, to recite at the inauguration of President Barack Obama’s second term.

Richard Blanco performs his poem “Boston Strong” at the benefit concert fundraiser to help those most affected by the tragic events that occurred during the 2013 Boston Marathon.

La pasión y el arte de Richard Blanco impresiona a muchos, incluyendo el mismísimo presidente de los Estados Unidos. Televisión Martí se sentó a conversar con éste cubanoamericano que está dejando su marca en los libros de historia.

Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco Talks About His Inspiration. Most of America was introduced to Richard Blanco on Monday when he stepped to the podium at the U.S. Capitol to read “One Today,” the poem he had written to celebrate the second inauguration of President Barack Obama. Blanco, the gay son of Cuban exiles, is the fifth person to be chosen to write an inaugural poem, and the youngest person to be given that honor. (Previous inaugural poets include Robert Frost and Maya Angelou.) In the video below, Blanco talks about his desire to create a poem of unity and love, as he believes the occasion demanded.

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Poet makes history at Obama inauguration. Inaugural poet Richard Blanco on being the first Hispanic and openly gay poet to read at a presidential inauguration.

Richard Blanco is the first Latino and gay man to deliver the inaugural poem. Anderson Cooper asked him about the honor.

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Barack Obama broke a lot of barriers when he became the US’s first black president. Now, for his second swearing in, he has chosen an inaugural poet who is also making history.

Richard Blanco will be the first Hispanic inaugural poet. He is the first openly gay one to read a verse at the occasion. And at the age of 44, he is also the youngest.

Blanco will follow in the footsteps of Robert Frost, who was picked by President John F Kennedy when he started the tradition in 1961, and Maya Angelou who was chosen by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

He was conceived in Cuba but born in Spain after his parents fled the Castro regime. They then emigrated to Florida where Blanco first studied and worked as an engineer before turning to poetry as a profession.

He talked to BBC Mundo’s William Marquez about the poem he will read at the ceremony on the Capitol steps in Washington, DC to mark the second inauguration of President Obama.

Produced for the BBC by Marc Georges and Marcus Zeffler

Hear Blanco’s inaugural poem “One Today,” how he recited it to a snowman his nephews built in the back yard of his home in Maine. He still doesn’t know why the Whitehouse chose him to be the Inaugural Poet. In some ways, he doesn’t want to know. He shares his thoughts on the experience in this video, how it was both “exhilarating and terrifying,” how he thought about the snowman as he presented his poem on the West Front of the Capitol on the morning of January 21, 2013.